#477: NYRERÖD, Marie: Bergman Island (2006)

NYRERÖD, Marie (Sweden)
Bergman Island [2006]

Spine #477
DVD

Just four years before his death, legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman sat down with Swedish documentarian Marie Nyreröd at his home on Fårö Island to discuss his work, his fears, his regrets, and his ongoing artistic passion. This resulted in the most breathtakingly candid series of interviews that the famously reclusive director ever took part in, later edited into the feature film Bergman Island. In-depth, revealing, and packed with choice anecdotes about Bergman's oeuvre, as well as his personal life. Nyreröd's film is an unforgettable final glimpse of a man who transformed cinema.

83 minutes
Color/Black & White

Stereo

in Swedish

1:77:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2009

Not to be confused with another film with the same title: #1170

Director

Marie Nyreröd was 51 when she directed Bergman Island.

The Film

Originally conceived as a three-episode television series — “Bergman and the Cinema,” “Bergman and the Theatre,” and “Bergman and Fårö Island” — distributors began cutting out the theatre section. At that point, Nyreröd and Bergman recut it all as this feature-length documentary.

It is a beautiful portrait of an artist, as Bergman opens up his life (after he had completed Saraband [2003] {Spine #0000A}) and work to her.

He takes a deep — and seemingly honest — dive into his own psyche; his relationship with all the wives and lovers, his antipathy towards his many children — but most satisfyingly — into his own work. Clips of most of his films are interwoven into the conversational texture, and he reflects on his attitudes and feelings at the time.

A few memorable moments:

He reenacts his first meeting with Victor Sjöström, with a giggling Nyreröd playing the young Bergman. (Sjöström advises him to quit yelling at cast and crew!)

An press interview has him saying that the four women in Cries and Whispers (1972) {Spine #0000A/#101} represented his mother … “No, no, that was a lie!” He cries to Nyreröd.

What a great filmmaker has to say about his work is always a poor substitute for the work itself, in the long run.

Film Rating (0-60):

55

The Extras

The Booklet

Six-page wraparound featuring an essay by Nyreröd.

“Today Ingmar rests in his grave at the Fårö church. That summer of 2006, we stood together looking at that plot. He had chosen the most secluded corner of the graveyard, as far as possible from the road. He thought he would be happy there. He promised to come back to haunt me. He hasn’t done that. I miss his company. I’m glad I still have his films.”

Commentary

None.

Bergman 101

A selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by film scholar Peter Cowie.

Cowie goes through just about every film. Bergman 101. Methinks the advanced class is in order.

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

55 + 34 =

89

By Director
By Spine #